CRCD presents webinar on Decoding COVID-19

Prof Ngeow (left) and Dr Pang (right) during the webinar

The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder that despite our twenty-first century social and technological advances, we are still vulnerable to natural disasters that can devastate world populations and economies. Thus, a webinar on “COVID-19: The Virus and The Host” was co-organised by the Centre for Research on Communicable Diseases (CRCD) and Centre for Corporate and Community Development (CCCD) on 12 June 2020. It was conducted in Microsoft Teams.

The webinar gave the audience a better insight into the COVID-19 virus and ways our body responds to their onslaught. Speaking at the webinar were FMHS lecturer Dr Yap Moh Lan and Universiti Malaya Faculty of Medicine Consultant Respiratory Physician Assoc Prof Dr Pang Yong Kek while moderating the webinar was FMHS CRCD Chairperson Prof Dr Ngeow Yun Fong.

Dr Yap presenting her slides

Dr Yap presented her topic titled “The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SAR-CoV-2” whereby she spoke about the discovery of coronavirus, human coronaviruses, animal origins of human coronaviruses, fatality rate, the phylogeny of coronaviruses, the structure of SARS-CoV-2, the life cycle of coronavirus and other relevant topics.

She explained, “The coronavirus is the largest genome among the RNA viruses and it is circulated among mammals, bats, avian species and human. It causes respiratory infections. The structure of the SARS-CoV-2 consists of spike protein, membrane protein, lipid protein and envelope protein.”

Dr Pang discussed the “Clinical Manifestations of COVID-19” during his session. Throughout Dr Pang’s session, he gave an introduction on COVID-19, the symptoms and signs of COVID-19, imaging and laboratory findings, organ-specific and systemic manifestation, the unique features of COVID-19 as well as teaching the participants to capitalise on this understanding.

He said, “The lessons learned from the past and present pandemics will certainly enhance our understanding of this long-term nemesis. Hopefully, the understanding gained from these battlegrounds will form the foundation in guiding and preparing us for the future outbreaks.” He added, “In order to fight the virus, our body has the innate immunity to control and eliminate the virus. During this process, many inflammatory cells and chemicals known as cytokines are secreted. This transition period will result in disruption in the functions of the body organs as well as tissue damage.”

The webinar was followed by a Q&A session between the speakers and participants.



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